Let the Lifelong Learning Program Expand Your Mind

By Jo Sanders

The Lifelong Learning Program, part of the Instituto Allende’s School of Art and Spanish, is becoming a major feature of San Miguel’s cultural life. Now in its fourth year, the LLP features short courses in English on academic topics with no preparation, no homework, no tests on the part of the learners—just the pleasure of learning in a comfortable classroom surrounded by the beautiful Instituto gardens. We offer two dozen courses from January through March, July and August, and October through December, which are always publicized in Atención. They consist of one to four classes.

The courses have become so popular that our core staff has now grown to five. We are delighted to welcome our newest staff member, Max Neufeld, responsible for coordinator relations. He joins Barbara Kalis, associate director; Josephine Curtis, student relations; Pat Hall, publicity; and me, Jo Sanders, founder, director, and arranger of courses and instructors.

San Miguel is blessed with so many accomplished and creative residents and visitors! Our courses reflect that breadth. Still to come this winter are courses on Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson; Ionesco and Beckett; international refugees; and US interventions into Mexican politics. In fact, most of our courses through March 2017 are already planned. They will include courses on Russian history, archaeology, astronomy, food, trials, the fundamentals of investing, poetry, philosophy, literature, and more. Stimulating courses make for happy minds!

And they are becoming more sought after than ever. More and more courses are selling out, making it essential to purchase your ticket early for courses you would hate to miss. The growing popularity of the courses isn’t surprising: our students evaluate 91 percent of the instructors as very good or excellent. We modestly agree.

If you would like to take a course, recommend an instructor, be an instructor, or be a course coordinator in exchange for free tuition, email me at jo@josanders.com. You can register in person in the Instituto office at Ancha de San Antonio 22. or on our website, http://instituto-allende.edu.mx/en/lifelong-learning-program. Half-price scholarships are available to those who need them. Happy thinking!